July 15, 2011

Open Thread Friday

It’s Open Thread Friday again, so feel free to discuss anything in the comments!

To kick this week off, since I went to the final Harry Potter movie last night, a question:

What Hogwarts House would you have been sorted into?

Me, I’ve always been most fond of Hufflepuff. Aside from my definite workaholic tendencies–it’s an entire house full of hardworking, closely knit, intensely loyal people who view inclusiveness as a core value. What’s not to like?

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I am among the Ravenclawiest Ravenclaws that ever Ravenclawed (I think this may be an occupational hazard of academia), but I think if I *weren’t* a Ravenclaw I’d be in Hufflepuff, and also I think I admire Hufflepuff’s House traits the most, really. OTOH, I don’t really particularly care for either Gryffindor or Slytherin and would make an utterly terrible one of either.

For me, I suspect it’s more that I have a ton of Ravenclaw traits, too–but I believe in Hufflepuff in a way that I don’t so much Ravenclaw. I love knowledge for its own sake, yes, but there’s intellectual puzzles I am too wary of to actually want to work on (and in fact that’s a big reason I want to go do my future research on non-humans rather than humans). And on the other hand, well, I believe in community, I believe in standing together, and I believe in loyalty. So. Hufflepuff it is, really! 🙂

Hufflepuff here as well. Quizzes and friends’ opinions tend to split me between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, but I think I’d be a terrible Ravenclaw. I’d be so anxious all the time — I feel like it would be similar to being in my “gifted” program classes from high school all day, which I enjoyed, but weren’t an environment I ever wanted to spend all day in. I feel like Hufflepuff might be the most accepting of diversity too (I spend way too much spare time puzzling over how queer students or students with disabilities fare at Hogwarts). Plus, their common room sounds cozy.

Also then I could wear this necklace all the time. I very unwisely searched “Harry Potter” in Etsy yesterday and favorited about ten different things. But … I need to not buy lots of random stuff right now. Maybe this winter.

Ooh, I hadn’t considered the competitive aspect. I actually never encountered much competition in my assorted gifted classes, but it’s possible that this was a combination of my not paying attention and my not really caring about competing in general. (I didn’t really push myself very hard in high school.) I do like the idea of puzzling over how queer students and disabled students fare at Hogwarts–I wonder what magical accommodations for various disabilities look like? I’m betting the wizarding world is not exactly queer-friendly, given its tendency to appear socially anchored about fifty years in the past in many ways and pureblood emphasis on having children and carrying on family “lines.”

I have been having the same problem with finding awesome new things and not needing to buy random new stuff, only with searching for things like “Harry Potter” and “geek” on Ravelry patterns. But there’s a trilobite hat and badger socks and I neeeeeeeeed them! At least I’m not going to run out of knitting projects any time soon…

We do know about some accommodations for various disabilities; Moody has a wooden leg and a magical eye. The Dumbledores were afraid Ariana would be kept in St. Mungo’s, but that was also well before the timeframe of the books. Rowling has said the greatest taboo in the wizarding world is blood status rather than sexuality, “So I think you could be, um, gay, pure-blood, and totally without any kind of criticism from the Lucius Malfoys of the world.” I get the impression that it’s not so much about having children and carrying on the family name so much as it is /not/ associating with Muggles and such.

Mostly I remember math being terrible for me, because I was put into honors math even though I’m not very good at math and it made me extremely anxious and aware of how easily everyone else seemed to get things, and just how much they realized that I wasn’t the same.

For disabilities we have seen Mad-Eye (as pointed out below) but I wonder too about people who are deaf — is there a Deaf wizarding culture? — and, well, there’s just so much more than we ever saw, it’d be hard to make a list. I wonder about the state of mental healthcare too. With the quote from the link below, I guess some queer people might’ve been more accepted than I would’ve guessed originally. I had absently pictured some trans teenagers just learning to do human transfiguration trying to transfigure themselves, if there weren’t places for them to go for help.

In my house, we actually organise our seating by which Hogwarts House we’re in. I identify as Slytherin in that house, mostly because that’s the cool sofa, but I think I’m Slytherin/Ravenclaw? Dunno. I’m not actually especially ambitious or driven, so it’s probably Ravenclaw.

(I love how many Huffleclaws there are in the asexosphere- perfect for an intellectual community)

And I’m not buying JK on ‘queer wizards are treated perfectly normally’. There’s a long history, in pure wizarding families, of dealing with a ‘problem person’ by sending them off somewhere and pretending they don’t exist. We see it in the Blacks, the Weasleys and the Dumbledores (and, ironically, the Dursleys), as well as with entire groups, like werewolves. I think this is very likely what happens to queer wizards, their sexuality is politely ignored, rather than accepted. (see Albus ‘Whoops, I vanquished the only man I ever loved’ Dumbledore).

I’ve not read the books recently, but my impression of St Mungo’s was that it’s pretty damn problematic and institutionalising. A lot of the mentally ill people in the books (having not read them in ages: Bellatrix (see FWD post), Lockheart, Voldemort, Neville’s parents, Barty Crouch, idk) are ‘tragic’ cases of magic gone awry- their illnesses are coded by both JK and the wizarding world as moralising tales, either of hubris or as proof of how bad the bad guys are. That and the fact that students like Neville (who may have a slight learning difficulty, but definately typifies a student who should be given extra support within classes) have to rely on their wits and the occasional kindly teacher (ie Moody).

(I haven’t read the books since the seventh one came out and I decided I didn’t care anymore, which is way long enough to forget most of the detail. Much as I would love to take part in this kind of discussion, it’s not happening with Potter. Now, Discworld or Tortall…. :P)

tempted to OT this to yet another Discworld discussion (the queer politics of discworld are interesting, because they have vampires!).

So I’m in the same position as you when it comes to not having read any of the books since the first time I read the epilogue *shudder*. I can’t actually remember which one was Bill and which was Charley, but I got the impression that one of them was seen as a bit weird and never quite welcome. He felt like yet another skeleton in the family closet, in a series where skeletons in family closets were a near-constant theme, and a lot of wizards who don’t fit (Hagrid, Quirrel, ALL werewolves) seem to spend a conspicuous amount of time touring very distant countries. Of course, they do the same thing with Percy in later books, but Molly and Arthur were some of the most important figures in an army which he directly betrayed, fighting for the future of the world, so exceptional circumstances(?)

I think Charlie was abroad with dragons and… I don’t remember anything about Bill other than I think he married Fleur and possibly had piercings.

And I am always happy to talk about Discworld >_> I think I’m going to start another reread of it after I finish the Circle universe. And Beka Cooper (Tortall) can maybe wait until after Discworld. I can’t read her in publication order, it’s too jarring after Aly, and I never remember to read Beka before Alanna. And Beka’s Dogs kind of remind me of Vimes’s Watch, so she might fit better there.

(Aly Cooper is my faaaavourite. Her interactions with Kyprioth are a thing of beauty.)

(The advantage of my terrible, terrible memory, coupled with my reading speed: I can reread all my favourite books two or three times a year. I’ve already reread most of Tamora Pierce, all the Robin McKinley I have (I really need to learn not to reread Deerskin good gods), Mercedes Lackey’s 500 Kingdoms series and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles this go-round. Books ^_^ I get all bouncy gleeful when I’m reading things I love.)

Oh same. It still doesn’t stop it being MIGHTLY CONVENIENT, for a children’s book that was already angering religious groups, that the gay character happens to have the excuse of having fallen in love with the second most evil wizard the world has ever known, meaning he HAS to bury his sexuality to an extent that it isn’t mentioned in any of the books.

Ravenclaw over here. I feel like Ravenclaw is the house most suited to introverts who are terrified of people, and that they would understand if you just… vanished for ever and didn’t talk to people and spent all your time reading. Also, I tend to do much better in an environment filled with people who actually enjoy learning things. Honors classes have saved my life so very many times. I miss them…

I’m also equal parts Slytherin and Hufflepuff, so my combined house shifts around a bit. The only thing I know for certain is that I am /not/ a Gryffindor.